Ebay and flipkart best shopping sites in India

In this article about online shopping, neither I'm going to focus on dozens of shopping sites that pop up every other day in the online shopping market nor am I going to provide a long list of all the sites that have been around since long.
People don't like lists and same is the case for me. If you want to know, say, the ways of earning money online, and I provide a list of 100 websites that will provide you with such an opportunity, you'll be frustrated for sure but here I have promised myself to make it short and simple.

I have been on the internet for long enough to know about some of the popular and worthy spheres of it. Indians have now entered the top 10 list of maximum online users and there will be a time when Indians will own a fair share of online websites.
But let's forget about stats for some time and let's talk about reality for a minute.

How many of you have actually done shopping over the internet?

I bet nearly 70 percent of the users of ISC have not done shopping online mostly because they have certain myths as well as certain valid concerns regarding doing the same. Here I'm going to try to remove most of your online shopping concerns.
As I said above I'll make the list short and I have done as promised. This article will be focussing upon two of the best online shopping sites of India.
The best shopping sites in India are ebay and flipkart. Just have some patience and read on to see why it is that I choose only these two sites.
There are many famous shopping sites besides the above mentioned ones like rediff shopping, homeshop18, Indiatimes shopping etc but the truth is that these shopping sites are costlier than either of the sites mentioned above. People often have the mentality that if they are getting products delivered at their doorsteps, it would certainly cost them more than the market prices. This is totally wrong thinking!

Sellers often make huge profits by selling things for a fortune just in the name of shipping. It's time to open your eyes because this article will literally teach you how to buy products online in India. I'll be discussing every single detail regarding online shopping in India so that you can shop confidently.
First things first, let the winners be validated. Ebay is a worldwide site and it has an exclusive branch in India for Indian sellers and buyers. On the contrary, flipkart is quite new and it started as an online Book store but gradually built up its quality and quantity and expanded to a fully stuffed online store. The feedbacks from both these sites are just awesome and most of all, they can take down any price challenge. In short, you can get the cheapest quality items online from these two sites and you'll actually never have to look for another site, that's a promise!

So, now you have a clear short list of two of the best websites that you have to check out for shopping. So, now it's time for the most critical question of all, Which is the best online shopping site of India?
I won't answer this question, you will!
I'll just enumerate the facts that will help you in deciding the best shopping store for yourself.

Flipkart vs ebay which is the best

Ebay is old but that doesn't mean that it is better than flipkart. Here, let me explain the basic difference between these sites. Ebay is like a shopping mall with various shops of different brands operated by many individuals. This is the simplest possible example that can explain the working of ebay. Ebay just provides a platform for sellers to sell and for buyers to buy online hassle free. On the other hand, flipkart is like a shopping plaza, owned by a single owner selling different products in a single but big shop. It's a company that sells different products. If you want to sell your old cell phone, you can do that on ebay but not on flipkart. So, if you are using ebay, you aren't actually buying from the site, but you are buying from one of the thousand sellers that have put up their products for sale.
So, that means flipkart has an edge over ebay in terms of uniformity in delivery and packaging etc. Different sellers from all over the country versus a single seller from a particular or two different places is the deal you are facing. This way flipkart is more trustworthy as a whole. All the products from this site will promise the same quality.

More products on ebay than flipkart

Wait up, the conclusion is far from being disclosed. Ebay has hundreds of listings of a single product. Say, I want a galaxy ace and I search for it on both these sites, flipkart will provide me with a single result (ignoring multiple colour alternatives and accessories) but ebay will provide many unique listings from different sellers offering the same phone at different prices.

samsung galaxy ace listing ebay

The screenshots above and below will show you the difference.

flipkart galaxy ace prices

So, you get a variety in prices and often, you'll end up with a cheap product. Talking about variety, ebay is so large that you can get almost anything on this site. If looking for phones, flipkart will provide hundred results while ebay might provide thousand results. This way you get a wider frame of choices on ebay than flipkart.

Free shipping online site flipkart

Shipping charges are indeed a deciding factor when you are looking forward to buy a product online. Because you often expect to pay for shipping if you want a product at your door and you are happy to avoid going out in the heat to buy something. Nothing can beat flipkart when you are talking about online shopping with respect to shipping charges. Last I checked, flipkart was providing free shipping for a 250 Rs memory card. I don't know about much cheaper products like shampoos etc because not every product demands an online purchase. More about those later, eBay sellers have great variations in shipping prices.

A seller selling a mouse for 500 Rs might ship it for free while another seller charges 400 Rs and an additional 100 Rs as shipping charge. So, you need to check for the shipping charges and although you might be getting a cheaper item on ebay, its shipping charge might add up to an overall costlier product.
So, flipkart is better than ebay in this respect because most of the products come with free shipping, so it boasts about with a great bargain deal for many products making it a better choice while shopping online.

Cheaper products on ebay than flipkart

Certain products have a variable price in various regions of the country and flipkart commonly operates in Bangalore and mostly product deliveries are from Delhi, so the products that are cheaper in Rajasthan won't be sold by flipkart as such but if you can find a seller from Rajasthan, you might get a great deal on ebay. Also, some sellers are quite reputed just like the famous brands and hence they provide good discounts over their products as their sales are high and they can afford to cut costs over their chief selling products and this way, the customers get a great advantage. I checked few months back, certain ebay power sellers were selling cell phones much cheaper than their counter prices on flipkart.
Another advantage of choosing ebay is that you continuously get so many discount coupons in your email accounts on a variety of products, plus there are weekly deals over different products and these products are quite cheaper than their flipkart competitors. A 5% off coupon is no big deal if you shop on ebay and I have even seen a 10% off coupon on cell phones and that was just a delight because I got more than a thousand rupees discount over my galaxy ace and it was much cheaper than flipkart's price of 11k or my state's branded store price of 12k. These deals are provided by ebay and in most of these deals, products are shipped free and therefore their costs take a nice dip.

Why flipkart is better than ebay

Now I'm going to provide my own thinking and experience of online shopping and you may agree or disagree with it but nonetheless these below mentioned points should be kept in mind while shopping online in India.
I prefer flipkart over ebay because simply put, it's a simple mess-free site with a promise of delivering what you expect at the cheapest prices and in the earliest possible time. I mentioned deals on ebay but what I skipped is that every such deal is applicable with a certain minimum shopping price and certain maximum discount. If you want to buy a product cheaper than 5k but you have a coupon of 10% off that is applicable with a minimum purchase of 5k, what do you get?
Nothing! All of it goes to vain and the prices of these products will remain high and flipkart prices will definitely beat ebay. Another important aspect is that of the bill and warranty of an online product.

People often doubt online products over this factor as they believe that if a product bought online gets damaged or if it malfunctions, they won't be able to do anything about it. Flipkart products always come with a legit online invoice document that is a standard bill of the product and the warranty can be used to get an item repaired easily from your location only because flipkart provides manufacturer warranty over all the products. So, even if your product malfunctions, there are no problems in getting them repaired.

But on ebay, not all the sellers provide manufacturer warranty, some sellers provide seller warranty. Now, this is an important thing to note and if you ignore this, you won't actually get any benefit.

Difference between seller warranty and manufacturer warranty

Seller warranty means that if anything goes wrong, you have to ship the product back to the seller. It might actually not be a company's warranty; it's just a promise from seller's side that he will get the product repaired, in any manner whatsoever, if it goes bad. You can't go to your local dealer and demand for any servicing because your warranty is not valid. It's just a warranty provided by the seller to get the product repaired and you will have to send that product to the seller at your cost.

Seller warranty and manufacturer warranty

The screenshot above is from the listing of a HTC Wildfire on ebay. This phone is being sold at a low price of 8k but if this phone gets damaged or stops working, you can't go to your nearest HTC service centre as you won't be getting any warranty with it. You have no option but to go through the hassles of contacting the seller and shipping back the product for repairs.

Say no to these products!

But, if you are provided with a manufacturer warranty, you can redeem it any service centre of the brand all over the country. Clearly, you don't want to buy a seller guaranteed product and so out of the few cheaper products that you find on ebay, you will have to leave some. This is also a reason why I prefer flipkart.
Also, some sellers on ebay don't provide the bills while they are boasting about with lower prices. It's highly advisable that you just ignore these products because an item like that may have originated from an untrusted source too and there will be no proof to confirm the validity of its quality.
So, in a way, flipkart provides a better hassle free as well as tension free service and the products are wrapped and packed so beautifully that you will just love to receive them.

Plus, the biggest advantage of all is the Cash on delivery service of flipkart. This facility is provided with nearly all the products on flipkart whereas ebay trusts the method of paisapay (secure) and only a few sellers provide this facility. So, you get the advantage of a shopping site where you can buy online without a debit card or a credit card.

It’s like online shopping for free without any debit or credit card!

Indeed it is the easiest online shopping one can get, and flipkart provides it all and that too at unbelievably rock bottom prices. Also, flipkart provides another great facility of getting your product gift wrapped for an additional 30 Rs or so and you can send your products to any address across the country.

So, if you are planning to buy your sister a gift this rakshabandhan, the best gift for your sister will be a surprise package that you order two days before on flipkart and I bet your sister is going to love that.

Hence, without any doubt, flipkart has emerged as the winner and gets the title of the best shopping site of India.

I've tried hard to take into account all the necessary factors and requirements for online shopping and all the best possible means to do so. But if I've missed something, be sure to leave a comment and you are welcome to present your view on this article as well.
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